Wine Law

5 There is yet other element, closely linked to the thoroughness of the formulation of designations of origin, over which full agreement has not been reached in European Law: its scope. In Spain, before this legal status was subsumed into European law, from the challenge launched at the Constitutional Court against the act passed by the regional parliament in Galicia on protection of ornamental stones and the subsequent ruling 211/1990 it can be concluded that an issue such as the scope of these designations is not, by any means, irrelevant or immaterial as those stones were eventually found to be within its scope. We shall see how this plays out within the European legal frontiers. The aforementioned case reveals two further challenges arising out of the geographical indications for European law if we are to consider their fundamental purpose of establishing a single European market: the coexistence or replacement of the scheme fashioned by the European Union and those by member states; and the threats to the Union by virtue of the devolution of powers regarding designations of origin (see the Spanish context). Lastly, for the sake of the preservation of food quality and fair competition, we should take into account other substantial legal challenge, that of public oversight over products under the government’s remit. Let us discuss each of these issues separately. 2. Towards a Greater Conceptual Certainty in the Matter of Designations of Origin It is common knowledge that European law lays down two tiers of protection, that is, two geographical designations: (protected) designations of origin and (protected) geographical indications, albeit with some dissimilarities which are far from being self- evident. There being two of them has been attacked by some as it has blurred the contours of the designation of origin, against which the geographical indication would just be a watered down version. The designation of origin is defined in article 5.1 of the current Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012 as: